1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an apparatus for recording of a digital image, communicating the digital image from the recording device to a storage device, and to administering the digital image in the storage device. The present invention also relates to a method for recording, communicating and administering the digital image.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the field of telecommunications, data of a wide variety of data types is transmitted from a sender to a receiver, either unidirectionally or bidirectionally. The data which is transmitted may be, for example, voice signals, image signals, or written characters which have been converted into digital signals. Video conferencing systems are used to transmit spoken data in combination with image data and/or written character data. These systems share the operation of various applications. Video conferencing systems require a high performance, expensive and bulky computer with an external video camera at both the sender end as well as at the receiver end.
Digital image cameras are currently available on the market, as known, for example, from the publication "Market Over View: Low-Cost Digital Cameras, Canon: Powershot 600", MACup, pages 100-101, No. 4, 1996.
So called cellular telephones may be utilized for image transmission, as is known, for example, from the U.S. Pat. No. 5,260,989, entitled "Method and System for Enhanced Data Transmission in a Cellular Telephone System".
An arrangement with a television camera and a telephone which provides for audio data and image data to be transmitted in common through a telephone line is known, for example, from the U.S. Pat. No. 5,063,587 entitled "Transmission System for Still-Picture T.V. Telephone". The disclosed apparatus makes it possible to digitize, compress and transmit individual still pictures, such as photographs.
When a large number of digital images are recorded and are to be archived in a central computer unit, then the organization of the data base becomes a problem. In particular, the problems of locating the data of an image data file increase as the number of images to be archived increases.
A book by S. Naumann et al. entitled "Parsing", Teubner Verlag, Stuttgart, 1.sup.st Edition, ISBN 3-519-02139-0, pages 155-166, 1994 discloses devices referred to as parsers.
An image and audio communication system having a graphical annotation capability is disclosed in the European Patent document EP 0 64 968 A2 in which voice, data and image communications are used in telephone systems. The circuit arrangement provides that still pictures and/or moving pictures can be recorded during a voice and data communication on a picture screen of a PC (personal computer) in parallel to the data displayed on the screen.